LAHORE, March 18: Former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has warned the PPP leadership that if the party is not restructured, differences among its rank and file will grow further. He has also raised several questions about the release of CIA operative Raymond Davis.

“Party activists are disappointed and annoyed at the present ruling mechanism and there is a need for restoring their hope and belief before the forthcoming death anniversary of (PPP founder chairman) Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto,” he told a Meet the Press programme here on Friday.

Referring to the corruption and dominance of some elements within the government and party ranks, he said a few rotten fish could not be allowed to contaminate the whole pond and determine the fate of the nation.

Declining to specify the “rotten fish”, he said the party head and the chief executive of the country were fully aware of all these things, while several cases in courts were also there to make a decision.

“It is time for bringing to fore honest, clean and visionary leaders. It is time for political cleansing of the parties. It is time to remove the real rotten eggs from the political scene.”

Mr Qureshi said the mystery shrouding the release of Davis raised more questions than answers.

He asked who paid the blood money as the US Secretary of State denied her country had made any payment in this respect. He regretted that the blood money law was used as a political tool.

He sought identity of negotiators in the deal since US officials had made it clear that they had no direct dealing with the heirs of victims.

He lamented that the lawyer of heirs was replaced at the eleventh hour and was barred from meeting his clients for four hours on the trial day.

He said if the deal was free and in conformity with the Sharia law then why the families had gone into hiding.

The former foreign minister said the Davis issue did not pertain to just two or three families, this has become a public issue during the last 40 days. “What kind of message is being given to the people of Pakistan and the international community? What precedent is being set by the government?”

He warned that the Davis case could result into a revolution in the country as people were hurt and at a loss to justify the government's act.

He said his stand stood vindicated on the issue of diplomatic immunity as had Davis entitled to the immunity, the US government would not have resorted to blood money law to secure his release.

Mr Qureshi had refused to join the restructured federal cabinet when the foreign affairs portfolio was withdrawn from him in the last month.